You'll Always Be My Hero
by Dr.Willowbrook
Summary: Chloe and Clark find each other again after putting their friendship on hiatus. Will their reunion lead to something more or tear them apart for good? Sequel to When the Dust Settles please read When the Dust Settles for the backstory.
1. Chapter 1

**You'll Alway Be My Hero**  
**Chapter 1: Guardian Angel**

The abandoned tenement building imploded in a cloud of dust as Clark's body plummeted from the sky and tore through each of its floors. Crashing into slab after slab of concrete didn't hurt him, but it didn't feel pleasant either. What did hurt was the searing sensation of heat vision on his chest being delivered by his opponent. He fired back with a blast of his own at his adversary, who was hovering in the moonlit sky over the pile of rubble where Clark crash-landed. To Clark's dismay, his target deftly avoided his heat blasts and flew towards him at incredible speed, slamming into his chest with her fists. He skidded across the pavement and crashed into another abandoned building. The tremendous impact of her blow forced the air from his lungs and he could feel himself beginning to cough up blood. He was in big trouble

Clark knew coming into this fight that his chances of survival were slim to none. And now those chances were looking less like 'slim' and more like 'none'. Taking on Ursa, one of the most renowned warriors in Krypton's history, was definitely one of the worst ideas he'd ever had in his life. But he didn't have a choice.

As Zod's first lieutenant, Ursa had been the enforcer behind his military operations. Now that Zod and most of the zoners were out of the picture, she was making her own bid for domination over the planet. Ursa had found Clark in his farm and threatened to destroy Metropolis if Kal-El refused to face her in battle in two days' time. With Oliver's Justice League currently out of the country on a mission, Clark shouldered the responsibility of stopping Ursa and accepted her challenge.

But he didn't enter the fight without a plan. Since he knew that he probably couldn't beat her in a straight fight, his best chance of stopping Ursa was to send her back to the Phantom Zone. To do that, he needed to use a Phantom Zone Projector he'd retrieved from the Fortress of Solitude. The only catch was that once he activated the projector, he needed to vacate the premises immediately or risk being sucked in through the portal himself. This meant that he needed to incapacitate or restrain Ursa in some way, which he was currently failing miserably at. As the fight dragged on he became increasingly convinced that his only chance to save earth was to activate the portal while he was locked in combat with Ursa, taking her back to the Phantom Zone along with him. The thought of spending eternity in a hellish prison with one of his father's mortal enemies didn't appeal to him, but it was better than leaving earth in her hands.

Clark picked himself up off the ground and fixed his eyes on his enemy. She stood a few yards away from him with her arms crossed. Her jet black hair blew in the wind and her piercing blue eyes looked at him with detached contempt. She wore a lightweight suit of black armor. Her slender frame and stunningly delicate facial features belied the fact that she was a vicious killer.

A condescending grin spread across her face.

"Is that all you can manage Kal-El? I had no idea that the son of Jor-El would be such a weakling. What a disappointment. Perhaps I should amuse myself with the torture of some of the primitive natives instead?"

Her words triggered a protective rage inside of Clark, and he dashed towards her with the strongest punch he could muster.

Clark's eyes widened in shock as Ursa easily intercepted his punch with an open-palmed parry. He couldn't believe how incredibly strong and fast she was. Not only was she stronger than any of the zoners he'd encountered so far, but she would have also left Bart Allen in the dust. This was one time where he wished he'd begun his training when Jor-El had told him to.

Ursa smiled wickedly.

"Foolish boy. So predictably quick to anger. Your emotions weaken you."

Before he knew it, Clark was met with a series of lightning-fast elbows, knees, and hand strikes. The final blow to his stomach sent Clark to his knees and his insides groaned in pain. He clenched his eyes shut as he tried to suck it up.

Mercifully, Ursa halted her onslaught. But only for the moment.

The sound of metal scraping against something forced Clark to open his eyes and look up. He wished he hadn't. Ursa was now brandishing a sword with Kryptonian symbols on it. The symbols read: "The Judgment of Rao." If this sword was anything like the Kryptonian blades he'd encountered in the past, it would slice through him like butter.

He could feel the pace of his heart quicken.

"I grow tired of this diversion," Ursa sighed. "It is time to end this, Kal-El."

Without warning, she lunged towards him and swung her blade at his midsection. Clark called on all of his speed to avoid the blade, but he wasn't fast enough. The blade's edge cut across his abdomen, and Clark could feel the sting of the metal. Fortunately, he had moved just enough so that the wound wasn't fatally deep. But it hurt like hell.

Ursa moved in for another strike. In his desperation, Clark miraculously avoided her sword and managed to land a powerful punch to her face.

She staggered back, momentarily stunned at being hit. Unfortunately, Clark was unable to follow up his attack due to the bleeding gash in his torso. He dropped down to one knee and painfully clutched at his stomach.

An amused grin formed on Ursa's face as she wiped the small trickle of blood from her mouth.

"So it seems you are not completely feeble, Kal-El. But it is too little, too late."

She grasped her sword tightly with both hands and prepared to deal the death blow.

This was it. Whether or not he survived this next attack, Clark had to make sure that Ursa got sent back to the Phantom Zone. He grasped the Phantom Zone projector's switch in his back pocket and prepared for her to get within range.

Before the final moment, his thoughts turned to all the people he was leaving behind. He'd said his cryptic goodbyes to Martha and Lana before leaving to face Ursa. But his heart ached at not having said goodbye to Chloe in person. Since deciding to keep their relationship "strictly professional," they had barely spoken over the past nine months, and even then only in the capacity of him needing her help with zoners or working with the Justice League. He'd desperately wanted to see Chloe before confronting this latest foe, but was afraid that she would put herself in harm's way. Even though they no longer spent time together, Clark had no doubt that Chloe would still risk her life to help him. So instead of risking her involvement, he decided to tell her farewell by leaving a handwritten letter on her Daily Planet desk less than an hour ago. 

Suddenly, his hearing picked up the sound of a bow being drawn. Ursa heard it as well and they both turned their head towards the sound. In the shadows, a dark blue hooded figure took aim at Clark's opponent.

"How pathetic," Ursa yelled at the figure shrouded in darkness, "your weapons are useless against me."

"We'll see about that," said a distorted voice.

Clark instantly recognized the sound of the voice concealer Oliver Queen used in his guise as the Green Arrow. Oliver must have just made it back from shutting down the latest of Lex Luthor's 33.1 facilities in Asia. But that still didn't explain why Oliver was wearing blue instead of his patented green leather outfit. He just hoped that Oliver didn't get himself killed.

Before Ursa could resume her attack on Clark, the hooded figure unleashed a customized arrow with a bulky cylindrical head in her direction. Clark could tell from the arrow's design that it was manufactured by Queen industries and wondered what good it would do against a Kryptonian. Amused by the primitive projectile, Ursa merely stood her ground, wanting to demonstrate to the intruder exactly how futile his attempts were.

Just before the arrow made contact with its target, its head broke open to unleash a weighted net that wrapped itself around Ursa. To Clark's surprise, Ursa collapsed under the weight of the net. Then he felt it. The familiar pain of Kryptonite. That was what the net was made of.

Before succumbing to the pain, Clark realized this was the chance he had been waiting for. With Ursa incapacitated by the Kryptonite net, he activated the Phantom Zone Projector. Since the Kryptonite negated his powers, he ran as fast as he humanly could away from the opening portal. As far as he could tell, Oliver had already high tailed it out of there. 

As he started to feel the violent winds of the portal, Clark anchored himself against the largest piece of rubble he could find and hoped it was enough to keep him from getting sucked in. He looked back and observed Ursa's flailing form being pulled into the portal entrance before she finally disappeared within its depths. Then just as quickly as it opened, the gate to the Phantom Zone disappeared, not leaving a single trace of the evil Kryptonian.

Satisfied that his job was done, Clark collapsed to the ground with his wound still bleeding. He rested on his back and looked up at the full moon, thankful that it wasn't the last night of his life on earth.

"Are you alright?" a familiar distorted voice called out from a few feet away.

Clark was too drained to move at all.

"I'm a little banged up, Ollie," he said into the night air, "but I think I'll survive. Thanks for the save…"

The blue-hooded figure stood over him and blocked his view of the moon. Clark instantly realized that it wasn't Oliver. He should have been alarmed, but he wasn't. The person had saved his life, after all. 

"Who are you?" he asked.

His savior pulled back the hood to reveal golden blond hair, brilliant emerald green eyes, and a smile that could bring anyone to their knees. The moonlight illuminated her hair and gave her face an ethereal glow. Clark never thought he had seen anything so beautiful in his life. It was impossible for him to stop the smile that spread across his face. 

He had cheated death and now found himself face to face with his guardian angel… albeit a guardian angel that talked as if she'd done a few stints in purgatory.

Chloe smiled right back at him, filled with both relief and joy.

She turned off the voice concealer before taking a dig at him; she just couldn't resist.

"What would you ever do without me?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

Just a few moments ago he thought he would never see her again. Now she was standing over him, giving him crap with a devious grin on her face. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'd probably die a long and horrible death," he replied.

And boy, did he know it.

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	2. Chapter 2

**You'll Always Be My Hero  
Chapter 2: Bandages, Sweatshirts, and Love Letters  
**

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip, her face a mask of total concentration. Small beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. She needed to place the piece of gauze precisely, tape it just right, and then get out before she got herself killed. She kept repeating the same mantra over and over again in her head. _Do Not. Stare. At Clark's. Naked Chest. Or You Will Die._

Clark watched Chloe's rapt concentration with amusement. He'd never seen such focus for a mere bandage job before. True, it was a nasty cut, but nothing life threatening. His Kryptonian healing saw to that.

He sat on her couch while she rested on her knees between his legs, attempting to dress his abdominal wound. Then the peculiar position they were in suddenly occurred to him. It was kind of… suggestive. And it triggered thoughts he knew he shouldn't be having considering the situation. He hoped she didn't look up and see the uncomfortable blush that he knew was creeping across his face. Right on cue, a sharp pain seared through his abdomen and his body winced.

"Ow!"

Chloe gave him an unappreciative look. As if bandaging a half naked farm boy with the body of a Greek god weren't hard enough, he'd decided to start wiggling too.

"Quit squirming!"

"It hurts!"

Chloe rolled back her eyes in an annoyed sigh. To hell with trying to be precise. She simply slapped the gauze on his wound, making Clark hiss in pain. Then she swiftly taped the bandage in place. There. She accomplished her mission without having her head explode at the sight of Clark's rock-hard body. Plus she'd made him smart in pain, too. She was actually quite proud of herself. And the mischievous grin on her face showed it.

Chloe's amusement wasn't lost on Clark.

"You think this is funny? I'm in pain here."

"I swear," she chided as she stood up, "out of all the hero types I know, you have got to be the biggest wuss!"

"They're used to physical pain. I'm not."

"Well boo hoo for you. I'm sorry we can't all be invulnerable."

"Neither am I, obviously," he retorted as he eyed some redness seeping through his bandage.

Chloe saw it too and her eyes filled with worry.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "It's just taking a little longer to heal, that's all. I think it has something to do with the Kryptonian blade. At least the wound has started healing up a bit. It looks a lot better than it did half an hour ago."

"If you say so…" Chloe said with concern still tingeing her voice.

Clark knew he would be fine because he could feel his body regenerating already. He just wanted to ease Chloe's worries and knew he needed to change the topic.

"Speaking of hero types," he said, "it seems like you've officially joined the club. Looks like Ollie's been lending you some his toys and teaching you a few tricks."

"So I'm a hero type now, huh?" she smiled.

"I'll gladly vouch for your first official rescue in costume."

"Yeah, some costume," she said as she motioned to her mismatched outfit. "Talk about clashing."

Clark looked at her navy blue hooded sweatshirt, black cargo pants and brown combat boots. Not exactly the ensemble designers would feature on fashion week. But as he looked closer, he noticed something very familiar about her sweatshirt. Then it hit him. He was definitely going to have fun with this one.

"Chloe, I know you're trying to emulate the Green Arrow and all… but I didn't know you'd adopted his thieving ways."

Chloe gave him a quizzical look. Where the hell did that statement come from?

"Excuse me?"

In response, he pointed at the hoodie she was wearing and fixed her with an accusing stare.

"That sweatshirt. It's mine. You stole it."

She looked down at the sweatshirt and then back at his face. A guilty laugh escaped her lips.

"Oh… I was wondering when you'd notice. I've had this thing since fall of senior year."

"Fall of senior year?"

Clark racked his brain trying to recall when he'd seen his navy blue sweatshirt last.

"Wait a minute… now that I think about it, the last time I saw that thing was when you showed up in my loft wearing nothing but my football jers—"

"Oookay," she interrupted, "no need to bring up the episode with the Kryptonite love juice."

She definitely didn't want to relive one of the most embarrassing few days of her life. Plus she didn't exactly want to admit that she had in fact stolen the sweatshirt during the incident.

"Why not?" he teased. "I thought you made a great cheerleader. Even better than Lana. You definitely had the necessary spunk and oomph."

Chloe's eyes narrowed and she put her hands back down on her hips. Clark could tell from the change in posture that she meant business.

"You know, I still have another one of those kryptonite arrows… "

"Okay, okay," Clark chuckled as he waved his hands in mock surrender.

"But," he offered instead, "you still need to give me my sweatshirt back."

Chloe wrapped her arms tightly around herself in a protective gesture over the sweatshirt. There was no way she was giving it up. It was the most comfortable and frequently worn piece of clothing she had. Plus it reminded her of Clark, which was a fact she decidedly kept to herself.

"No," she whined, "this hoodie's got a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome. It doesn't want to go back with you. It wants to stay with me."

"What are you talking about?" he answered with an incredulous laugh. "Sweatshirts can't think, much less want anything."

"See," she countered, "that's exactly the kind of close-minded thinking that led to this hoodie abandoning you in the first place."

She was toying with him now. Clark attempted to give her a stern look, but he couldn't completely stop the grin from emerging at the corners of his mouth.

"Chloe…"

"Please? It's part of my 'hero' outfit. Plus I'm a destitute college student. Where else am I going to find a hoodie as good as this one?"

At her impassioned pleading, Clark couldn't help but cave to her demands.

"Well, if you need it that badly…"

Chloe replied with a radiant smile. He silently thought that if caving to Chloe meant seeing that smile, then he should do it more often.

For a moment they just stayed in place, exchanging happy grins. They basked in the feeling of familiarity that came with being in each other's presence. It was like coming home.

Caught in the moment, Chloe reflexively put her hands in her sweatshirt pockets. Her right hand grazed a letter-sized envelope, and the paper made a crunching noise.

Chloe took the envelope out and looked at it. Her smile slowly disappeared.

Clark gulped when he saw what she was holding. It was the letter he had left her before leaving to face Ursa. Believing that there was a very good chance he'd never see her again, he had said some pretty heavy things in that letter.

She looked up at him and her eyes were shimmering with tears. The fact that he could have died without her seeing him one last time truly frightened her. And it crushed her to know that Clark had chosen not to see her before marching into near-certain death.

"So, you weren't planning on seeing me at all?" 

She sounded so hurt that all Clark wanted to do was walk up to her and hug her. He needed to explain that the reason he didn't come to see her was because she was the one person he cherished above all.

"I was trying to protect you. I knew you'd get yourself involved and I didn't want Ursa to hurt you. Of all the people I wanted to keep from harm, it was you."

The last thing Chloe needed to hear was Clark going into overprotective mode. She wasn't Lana, for crying out loud.

"Protect me? But who's going to protect you? Damn it, Clark! I almost didn't get there in time to save you!"

"Saving me isn't your concern anymore!" he forcefully responded. "It stopped being your concern when you walked out on me nine months ago! I'm all alone in this now! Just me! It's my responsibility! And if I die alone, so be it!" 

Chloe looked at him as if he'd slapped her. When he mentioned that he accepted the fact the he was going to die alone, her heart broke. She understood how alone he felt and she was terribly sorry for leaving him to deal with the majority of his arduous destiny on his own. But she had needed the time away from Clark to heal herself.

Living without Chloe had forced Clark to become stronger and take charge of his life. But even with Lana now sharing his secret, he felt more alone than ever without Chloe. All the loneliness he had been feeling these past months finally found a way to release itself through his anger. Clark hadn't even realized he had gotten out of his seat. He sat back down and buried his face in his hands, attempting to compose himself. 

Realizing Clark's inner turmoil, Chloe's gaze softened.

"You're never alone," she whispered to him.

"I know," he replied with his face still in his hands.

After a few moments he looked back up at her. She was still clutching the letter. Despite its wrinkled appearance, it looked to him as if it hadn't yet been opened.

"Did you read it?" he asked.

"No."

Her answer surprised him. It was so unlike Chloe not to read something that was placed right in front of her.

"Then how did you know what was going on?"

"Lana called me right after you saw her in Smallville and told her you were leaving to fight Ursa. I only found this letter because I swung by the Planet to pick up supplies before I went to find you."

Shortly after Lana broke up with Lex and learned of Clark's secret six months ago, Chloe made her promise to watch over Clark in her stead. And so far she'd kept true to that promise. Until now, Clark had no clue of the degree of constant communication that took place between the old and the new protectors of his secret.

"So you and Lana have both been looking out for me this whole time."

"Yeah."

"But that doesn't explain why you didn't read the letter."

Chloe looked down at the slightly crumpled envelope in her grasp. Then she looked into his eyes.

"I didn't want to say goodbye. I wanted you to tell me yourself."

She tossed the unopened envelope at him, and he caught it with one hand.

"So now's your chance," she said.

Clark sat there speechless. Chloe had totally taken him by surprise and put him on the spot. He had written down so many things in his letter, that he didn't know how to turn them into spoken words. He stammered, not knowing what to say in order to capture the depths of his feelings.

After a number of seconds, Chloe ran out of patience.

"It figures," she said in a resigned voice, "no one ever means what they say when they're under stress."

She turned away from him and started walking across the living room towards her bedroom.

The sight of her beginning to walk away gave Clark the courage he had been sorely lacking. There was no way he was going to let her walk out of his life again.

He bounded up from the couch and rushed to her side. Just like that night on the Daily Planet rooftop nine months ago, Clark grabbed her by the elbow and looked her directly in the eyes. She refused to meet his gaze completely; afraid of what she would see.

"Chloe, I love you."

Clark's sudden admission stunned her. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Denial was her first response.

"You don't mean that. That can't be what you said in that letter." 

Clark refused to let her dismiss his words.

"You're wrong," he countered, "in so many words, that's exactly what I said in my letter."

He grasped her arm even more tightly to let her know he was being serious. His voice was raw with emotion.

"Chloe, I love you."

She looked into the depths of his eyes and was frightened by what she saw. For the first time, Chloe looked into Clark's eyes and saw that there was no one but her in his heart. And it scared the daylights out of her.

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